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Internet Romance and Dating Scams–The New Menace?

Heather is a 42 year old American lady.Divorced with two children,she decided to try online dating to possibly get a new partner.

She signed up with one of the popular dating sites and set up a profile.The anonymity and security of online dating appealed to her and she hoped it would work out for her.

In a matter of days, she was contacted by a man who also claimed to be looking for a love relationship.The man was handsome,also divorced and in his mid-forties. He claimed to be an engineer living in the United States, but was sent on an assignment by his company to Nigeria.

They began to chat and exchange mails, and soon began a relationship online.He sent flowers to her from time to time, sent poems everday, called her up twice a day. Heather felt that she had finally found the man of her dreams. Surely,this was the perfect relationship that she had wanted since her divorce. Here was a man who was caring and who showed it. She readily agreed to his proposal when he called her over the phone and asked her to marry him. They began to make plans to get married as soon as he returned to the United States.

Heather felt all was going on well with their plans until he made a distress call.He had been involved in a road accident and had been hospitalized. Could she help out with some money to pay the bills? Well,she did help. A sequence of events followed afterwards. Weeks later, she discovered that the man she had fallen in love with was not the real person she had thought he was.She had just been taken by the newest form of online scams that is just showing up–the romance or dating scam.

She was heartbroken.She had lost thousands of dollars to this man.She was behind on her mortgage and was in debt to the bank. But painful as the experience of the romance scam was,it could not be compared to the emotional pain that she had to go through.

It would take many months before she would get over the whole experience of the dating scam, which she described as a nightmare. Heather is not the only one that is a victim of this new form of scam.Many thousands of people online are losing millions of dollars monthly to these Nigerian scams. But due to the secretive nature of the internet, most people that have been scammed this way are either too embarassed or ashamed to talk about their experience. In a particular finding, 145 men and women reported that they lost over $1 million in just two months in 2005. In that same finding, thousands of people refused to disclose any information about their losses.

The worst aspect of these scams has been the emotional pains and hurts that the victims have had to go through.
Many of the victims reported that it took them many months before they could get back to their normal life after the scam occured.

A lady reported that she cried for many nights after she realized that she had been experienced the Nigerian scam. She had thought she had got the ideal lover,and had become so emotionally attached to him. Realizing that it was all a lie was devastating to her. The fact that she had been in deep love with a fake person was what pained her the most.

This is the same experience as many of the victims have had.The effects of the romance scams have had so much of a devastating effect on them all. Medical doctors, lawyers,paralegals and other professionals have been known to lose money to these dating scams just as housewives, students, factory workers and other low-income earners have. The scams are no respecter of status or race. Not even religious people have been spared from this growing menace.

Till this moment, thousands of people are out there trying to get over these scams. But even as those who have been scammed are trying to get on with their lives, many more thousands are being set up for a scam right now.

Online dating has come to stay with us all, and many people have found true love through this avenue. Online dating has produced many successful love stories. It is a medium that if properly used, with the right education, can be a means of bringing love into the lives of many.

However, it is apparent that it is also increasingly being used for the wrong purposes. Given the high success rate of the scams however, the best way to deal with them is to educate yourself about them.

You need to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Knowing the methods that the scammers use will help you not to fall for their antics. You will be able to know what to do to protect yourself and still be able to date succesfully. The more educated you are, the more you can prevent the scams from happening to you.

About the Author:

Alan Prince actually went behind the scenes to research these scams.His findings from interactions with both the scammers and their victims are available at http://www.elovedeceptions.com . Go there to learn more about how you can prevent this sort of situation from happening to you. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure!!

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I had been very much similiar situations like Heather. My name is Cody, 54 years old and divorced 2 years ago. I was online membership match.com and wasn’t much respond from anyone yet. Suddently, one of guy send an e-mail and interested in me. He became passion and heavy romance which I wasn’t expected from anyone. He asked me go yahoo messager wanted chatting which he setting up for me. I had been asked many questions which he couldn’t replay back sometimes. He introduce to me that Army Captin send by some of contract to West Nigeria and the contract’s are all most over. Will return back to United State next week. I couldn’t possible believe what he said and kept asked him that why U.S Army go to Unicef Mission business over there. I was directly asked him that are you real guy or con man??? Some time he said that when he returned back he would like to marriage with me. Oneway to another I won’t buy his story that he using his dauther story to soften my heart. In Nigeria, his daughter with him but all of suddently, his daughter’s birthday (19th), she was on the way to his hotel she had engaged accident and he spent a lots of money for hopsital that he couldn’t afford back to US. He sound like sad story one after another. One of a friend warned to me that this guy is a con man. Sure he was a con man. As soon as he asked me small favor to asked money which he asked me lending him $750. I asked him that why Army won’t support for him. The minute he asked me of money then I turned off my messager and sending an e-mail to him that “you’re a con man”. He kept sending me several more msgs but I discard. After then, last week big aircle MSNBC.com had big publicity Samming News. What a relieved that I could be deeply in trouble. God was watch out for me.

I had a similar situation happen to me just a few weeks ago. I am recently divorced, a full time student, and mother of two teen-aged kids. I don’t have time for the bar scene, or anything of the sort, so I resorted to trying the on-line dating thing. I had a guy initiate a conversation with me, and asked that we start using messenger. We talked for several weeks, and he began saying all the things that a woman needs to hear. I really thought that this was the kind of person that I would like to get to know. He tells me that he is an independant contractor for pharmacutical supplies, and that he had gotten a contract that would require him to go to Africa for a few weeks. We began to make plans for him to fly to the nearest airport to me when he returned to the states. When he “supposedly” arrived in Africa, he IM’d me seeming very upset that his shipment had not arrived. A few days later, he was releived that they were there…then later that same evening, he IM’d me that there had been some kind of mix up and that the drugs that were delivered were out of date, and apparently this is a crime in Africa. He said that all of his documents and papers were seized, and that he would have to go to court in a few days. I was worried sick….then he says that he has to replace the expired goods, and this would all be over, if not, he would be sent to jail in Africa. He said that he needed $30,000 of which he had half. He asked me for the other $15,000. I told him there was no way that I could possibly get that much money… I don’t have that kind of money. Then he asks me to go to Wells and Fargo Bank and set up an account. This was my 1st red flag..although it SHOULD have been how quickly the relationship developed. At this, I was suspicious…so I called the bank, and explained what was going on. I never said this person was in Nigeria, only Africa. That was when the man at the bank told me about alot of scams involving Nigeria. I knew in my heart of hearts this was a scam, but there was a small part of me that kept wondering if this was really happening, and if it was, how bad of a person that would make me to just sit back and do nothing. I have no money to send, but I offered to do other things for him..contact his friends, family, American Embassy, whatever it took to help him, but money was out of the question because I didn’t have it to send, and that I would not open an account in my name and let him wire me the money…I didn’t want to do anything that might get me into trouble with the law. I have entirely too much to loose. He became irritated, said that I couldn’t care about him if I was willing to just let him go to jail. I told him that he would not guilt me into anything, and asked that he remove me from his friends list, because that was what I was doing. I didn’t hear from him for about a week, and then all of the sudden, I get a message from him, telling me that he is sorry, that he is just really stressed out, he doesn’ know what he is going to do. Asking me not to leave him to do this alone. So I began to talk to him, about five minutes in to the conversation, he again asked me for money…a smaller amount this time ($400)…but still asked me for money. That was it, I clicked off, and have not replied to not one of his messages. I haven’t heard from him in a few days now. Hopefully he will just leave me alone. My lesson in all of this??? Don’t be so trusting to people that you really don’t know…they can be whoever they want to be on the computer. My advice to anyone who reads this??? At the very first mention of needing money for ANY reason…click off this person. You are more than likely fixing to be set up to be scammed. I’m so glad that I listened to that inner self, and didn’t do something stupid. I’m sad that he turned out to be such a schmuck…cause he really sounded nice.

Treva, if you are receiving follow-up comments, I would like to compare notes with you. I too have been scammed by a man in Nigeria with a Dutch accent (very heavy one; his English is very nearly unintelligible.) This one also claims to be a widower (wife died of diabetes), has an adopted daughter. He claims to be a self-employed timber trader.

I too am a divorced mother of 2. I am a very happy and confident person and am so upset with myself for being so gullible. I was contact on Match and we very interested in his profile. It included many of the things I was looking for. We chatted for a few days and had great conversation. We even talked on the phone a couple times and was pretty confident that he actually was a Dutch man working in Africa on a church building. He freely provided me his address in my local town, where he lives as well as his birthday. During one chat he suddenly said his daughter woke up with a fever and chills and left to go to the hospital. This was very believable. Later the next day he started saying his daughter has malaria. And then he asked for money. The red flag went up, but we had had so many chats and phone conversations it was difficult to think it was a fraud. And he wasn’t asking for much…just $900. So I sent it. Stupid now I know. Then a few days later he claimed his daughter now had valvular muscular heard disease, which is the same thing his wife had died off (previously established). It was very difficult to convince me to send money. I asked a million questions and asked for him to email me confirmation information, which he did. The third time he asked for money was for him because he was now in serious money trouble with the hospital costs and the extended stay. It took alot of discussion to convince me, but in the end it was the phone call and hearing the Dutch accent that swayed me. So I sent more. But he had promised never to ask again. The very next day he asked for more and then I really knew I was being totally played…even though all along I was having my doubts. That was when I started doing a search on the Internet for scams. I so which I had done that originally. I feel so bad for the man whose picture this criminal is using.

I am a 44 year old grandmother that had signed up for a myspace account and also on match.com. I have also been contacted by four of these men that are running this scam. They were all widowers and had children with them on these projects in Africa. Each one contacted me one at a time, luckily I was smart enough to figure out they were scam artist after only a few days of talking to them through instant messaging. As soon as they asked for money, I told them to never contact me again.

I to have been scam of thousands of dollars by a man that called himself Mark Paul. It started out as a online date he got my profile from yahoo personals and im me. He told me he was a business owner and needed help getting back to the US. He sent me a profile said he was 60 yrs old from Abilene TX he sold can goods and he had a check for one million dollars but couldnt cash it there. We had been talking for a month he had all the poetry and smooth talking down pat. I first sent him 3000 he ask for 5000. I didnt have it then he ask for 2000 I sent it. That was to pay his hotel bill and airline ticket. He than wanted me to send him 3000 so he could send his goods, he said he couldnt leave them there. After a few weeks had passed and getting my family involed I started feeling pressure from my family and him so I started questioning him I said I couldnt send anymore money because I didnt have it he than wanted me to set up a acct called harvest at my bank red flag went up so I didnt I told him I was unable to do that, he than ask me to set up a sun trade acct so his client from the US could put money in it. By this time my daug found this site alerted me. When I ask Mark about it he got angry and now he refuses to talk to me. his e-mail is paul-mark@ yahoo.com. There is alot more but I wanted this to be know because he is a smooth talker he knows all the right words. He even had me convince he loved me and wanted to spend his whole live together. He quoted verse from the bible annd read peotry to me. When I didnt call him he would call me useing a relay operator. He made it all sound so real. He is in Nigeria. I sent money by western union to ILEKOS,LARGOS to Mark Jones. I should of realized his voice was to young to be a man of sixty. He e-mail a picture of a man in his sixty and I comment on how good looking he was. I felt hard in love with a scam. I almost lost my family over this. Im trying to heal from this so I wanted women to know that Mark Paul is a scamer.

Boy, talk about getting bit twice. I was on match and about to give up my membership. I emailed(yes, it was my doing) this attractive man who supposedly lived in New York. He replied with how he felt he met his soulmate, yadda,yadda whatever. Well, did not really buy but we chatted for two months. Found he was living in London(another lie). When he was supposed to come and pick up a check from a contractor.Hum, right there I knew he was going to get me to try and launder money. Well, he got into a car accident and that is when he asked for money. I declined. He then asked if I could receive a check from the contractor. I was to cash and send him the money. I declined. Unfortunately, I fell for him. Recently on yahoo, a fellow from surprise, West Africa started to email me who I thought was from NY which was stated in his profile. I immediately called his bluff and he still is emailing me. I intend to go to the authorities with this one. Just remember it is not just about giving money, alot of these people are trying to get you to launder money. Beware of anyone who professes their love too quickly.

I am a 60 year old grandmother and signed up on Singlesnet.com. I am still in the middle of this whole ordeal. He does not take no for an answer. It started with this guy contacting me, he’s single, age 60, very good looking. When he told me he loved me so quickly, it’s God’s will, we will be married yadda, yadda, yadda. Just what every woman wants to hear. Wanted to do some messaging right away so we have been doing that. This guy says he’s an architect from Indiana, he got a contract for work in Nigeria, he called me when the plane landed and said he’d have to go to the bank in the morning to get some money. Then he called the next day and said on the way to the bank to cash his cashier’s checks for money he was robbed at gunpoint and beaten so now he needs money so he can buy food. He was only asking for 50 dollars, then it went to 100 and now it’s at 150 dollars. I too asked if he was a con man but of course he said absolutely not. I have now told him not to contact me anymore but I guess I will have to block him out myself. I am one of the lucky ones, I saw the red flags and didn’t send any money. Now I just need to have him quit trying to contact me.

I thought by going on e-harmony I would meet someone who wanted a relationship, seeing the commercials for the site and the amount you pay to be on their site, you would think a scam artist wouldn’t pay the money to scam on it, boy was I wrong!!!!! His name he used was Harry Jackson, said he was in the air force for 22 years and had a son in college, lived in Ohio and was in west africa on a contract job, for mass rescue mission, training he said. Had pictures of a man in army clothing, around air bases, looked all real, another stolen identity. Talk about what he was looking for in a relationship, he was pretty lengthy about his so called family, he seemed ok, then he hits me with this story how he was in a car accident and hit a guy on a motorcycle and his wallet was stolen and he needed money to pay for this man to have his legs removed! He asked me for money, I told him I didn’t have it. Then he started off with all these stories, so I just played around with it, didn’t send any money, but made the mistake of giving my address out, well I got a surprise, freak sent me flowers. Then writes if I get a check or money order from him to let him know, yeah well got news for him, if he keeps bugging me, I’m going to my local news paper, and police and see what can be done. Needless to say, I quit e-harmony, I wrote to them and told them scam artists are using their site to scam people, all they said was to break communication with him and they would investigate the matter. Haven’t heard nothing since. So any one who thinks e-harmony is a good dating service can scratch that ideal, it’s a rip off, spend money on crappy service and crappy guys, I even had one who wanted me to go truck driving with him, like I don’t even know you and you want me to just jump into a truck with you, these are the kind of men they had on their service, crap!!! So I think the best way to meet a person is face to face, other wise you risk being scammed. Sorry for all those who went through this like me, I hope things turn out better for all those who got nailed by these pigs! Good luck, and know your not alone! Peace

I was a victim to a scammer, i met him on a saturday on the dating site, he contacted me there via the instant message, he said he was from san antonio, a town a few hours from where i live, almost as soon as we started talking he wanted to go to yahoo….we did, we chatted for hours that day and the next day…..him tellimg me he is widowed for 2 years,that his wife died in car accident… he took over his dad’s building business when his dad died 3 years ago….he won a building contract in united kingdom and would be leaving by plane that week, as he was supposedly flying there he had a friend sign onto his yahoo name and tell me what he would contact me when he arrived in london, i heard from him later that day when i was home for lunch…he gave me the number the hotel he was staying at, and i called it and it would not go through,anyway to make the story shorter he went to his mom’s and dau’s home on thursday on friday he was already asking for money because his mother needed surgery for amd. well i didnt want to , but i had been sent emails and beautiful poetry the entire week, stuff that even made me cry, even sent me a teddy bear. i thought i had found the man of my dreams, after a bad 14 year marriage this was like a fairy tale a dream come true, he asked for 600 pounds and i sent it and then when i arrived home to check email and make sure he had gotten it he asked for more money said the doctor said that would not be enough, i applied for an increase on my line of credit that i have through the bank, explaining to him that i dont think they will give me more money to have him beg me to help his mom and that he would pay all my debts because he would be getting a large sum of money when he was done with his building contract, well of course the second request for money started the red flag i had some doubts when he asked the first time, but i believed this man was my prince charming the man i had been searching for my whole life, but after we were done chatting i did alot of reading about these scammers and nigerian stuff, and i sent him an email the next morning he called me and asked me to meet him online, i didnt go right away and then he called right back asking me to meet him online, that i had hurt him with my email asking for my money back and saying i would not send anymore money, we chatted some and then i had to go , i came back and he was still begging me to get the money, and then i left again and came back and in the meantime i emailed him demanding my money back and he came online again and told me i wont give you money back unless you explain why you want it back and what do i tell my mom and daughter, that you dont trust me and want your money back and now my mother will go blind without your help….blah blah blah, well i said i dont want anymore contact i just want my money and he made reference to a town in nigeria that it would be where he would send money from claimed it was a town in the uk, i knew better i looked it up so i knew then that i had been had by a nigerian scammer.

I have been talking to people who are supposed to be engineers in africa,
one told me he was in wichita kansas left last night and got into arica during
the night, well that is impossible for one thing. It takes 16 to 20 hours to
get to africa, you can’t even get there on a private jet that quickly.
I am getting scared because they try to get you to join a paying dating site
to communicate and I always refuse to do that. I don’t want anyone getting
my credit card info. This is scary stuff and someone needs to do something
about it. these scammers are always on yahoo. com they have hot mail addresses. this is the second engineer I have talked to from africa. I won’t
give anyone any money either, I am not falling for that and they always claim
they are falling in love, it’s a scam, no one falls in love with someone they don’t know.

I was lucky. I was contacted by one through a dating site. He did ask to talk by IM – which I agreed as it is easier. Something didn’t feel right. I went along with his line of talking. He went from being scared and hurt by his exwife to falling in love with me to wanting to spend the rest of his life with me – over a 4 hour period. He quoted love poems throughout the time once he “fell in love” with me. I started to look up the poems and ran across a web site that mentioned a guy that is from the States but claiming to be in Nigeria. The script matched. They also mentioned that they also use my space. Looked up the name and town – picture and age didn’t match, but the profile did… they stated they get pictures from a modeling agency in Hawaii. I found the pictures of the guy along with his kid… I notified the dating site – cancelled my account and notified the modeling agency giving them the name of the model. What a shame – he was gorgeous… I did email the con copying the portion of the article about the Nigerian dating scam including the portion where he got the pictures from. All done within 24 hours…

I have another guy that almost fits the profile, single father of 11 year old, out of the Country – in the military – father dead but mom lives in TX rather than UK. He offered to help me report this scam, but wanted my user ID and password. I gave him the email address and user name of the scammer. He doesn’t totally fit the Nigeria scammer profile, but close enough that I will watch to see what he is going to do…. what a shame!

May 3, 2008 I was approached on singlesnet.com by a kind hearted man, like many other stories I thought he seemed very respectful. I was scammed out of thousands and thousands of dollars; and I am not naive but very well educated. My scammer is Craig Moose and told the story of his ill son jerry. He was in Benin on a consult job, and lived in austin , after living in Australia moved after his wife died. I was falling for this man; but i had empathy for his ill son. Supposedly, his son was in the hospital twice and then in the hospital in Amsterdam. I followed up on every situation prior to sending money. I called the hospital, checked out addresses, airline reservations, hotel reservations etc…But, these people are quick and have people all over the world to assist in their crimes. I think what made me feel horrible is that one would use god and others at the sacrafice of their own greed. WATCH OUT FOR CRAIG MOOSE A SCAMMER

Comment by Elvia July 26.2008
March 29 I was approached on singlesnet. by Craig Moose
exactaly the same story from me same man same child same story he scammed out of me thousanda and susands of dollars with same story about his ill son jerry Craig d Moose i can not pay now the tuition of my doughter and my car is ready to take away and more whach out for craig d moose

Comment by Cindy | June 16, 2008

May 3, 2008 I was approached on singlesnet.com by a kind hearted man, like many other stories I thought he seemed very respectful. I was scammed out of thousands and thousands of dollars; and I am not naive but very well educated. My scammer is Craig Moose and told the story of his ill son jerry. He was in Benin on a consult job, and lived in austin , after living in Australia moved after his wife died. I was falling for this man; but i had empathy for his ill son. Supposedly, his son was in the hospital twice and then in the hospital in Amsterdam. I followed up on every situation prior to sending money. I called the hospital, checked out addresses, airline reservations, hotel reservations etc…But, these people are quick and have people all over the world to assist in their crimes. I think what made me feel horrible is that one would use god and others at the sacrafice of their own greed. WATCH OUT FOR CRAIG MOOSE A SCAMMER

I read all messages and all the bad experiences hereabove, I have a friend of mine, she is in her early fifties, living in France, she was approached and through a dating site Meetic by an American registered in Los Angelos, same behavior, same methods, quickly he had invited his victim to chat with him on MSN messenger, speaking love, exchange photos, few days after, he informed that he was on a business trip to Nigeria, same nightmare scenarios, transfer of money via western union, flowers forwarded via interflora, my friend is still in contact with that person, no way put off by convincing her that her story is a fake, how to put an end to this romance scam, I succeeded in finding his pseudo on Meetic, his profile is still on, and was updated beginning of this month.
Romance scammers is a real scourge, unfortunately the dating sites and the different web sites who provide shelter for, don’t take the necessary actions by warning their subscribers to the danger that they may be facing when they contract a subscription.

ok.I am a Divorced 43 yr old with 3 children , and finally am accepting that I was scamed by a man I fell hard in love with. He quoted the bible to me, said all the right things every woman wants to hear, is extremely romantic , we have been talking on yahoo and the phone every day now for 4 months. His story was that he is a contracter that lives in Alaska, he had to go to NIgeria to get custody of his daughter , after we were involved for about a month, all of a sudden his daughter was deathly sick, and needed a heart transplant, he said he had most of the money to cover it , he just needed 1000. from me, of course I told him I didnt have the money, so then about a week passed with us arguing about it. Then he told me he had top sell his luggage and clothes to get the money that was needed for his daughters surgery. Now he doesnt have anything , not even money for food. I felt so bad for him , that I started giving him small amounts of money to help. I knew deep down that I shouldnt be doing that, but he kept making prommises to me, and quoting scriptures. we were to get married when he got back to states. He was even calling my kids “his kids”. To make a long story short, he said he was going to go to jail if he couldnt pay what was owed to the hotel he was staying at. He asked me if I was going to let him die in Africa. I gave him a total of 1200.00 total over a period of 4 months. I am now trying to get over a horrably broken heart, I allowed myself to fall deeply in love with him. ( or who I thought was him ) I cant believe someone can be so cruel . I just pray that he will get caught before he scamms another lonely victim.

I was scammed by Craig Moose also. He goes by Craig Grieson and Mike or Michael Charest also. I met him on chemistry.com. He told the story of being born in San Diego Ca. his dad being American, his mom Austrailian. Then moving to Austraila when he was 2yrs old. He said he went to Geelong University and then to school in Paris and that he was an Hydro Electrical Engineer. He lost his mom at 19 to cancer, his wife in 2005 in a car accident and his father in 2006 in a train accident in India. He was the only son of an only son with only him and his son left in the world.

He was lonely and had decided to try and find love again. He wAs currently in Benin Africa on sub-contract work and would be home in a couple of weeks. We talked and he was wonderfully kind ( I thought). He even sent me what looked like scanned air flight arrengements for coming home. I was to pick him and his son up at the airport.

About 1 week before he was to come back he tells me his son Logan has fallen at the hotel and is AT the Hospital with a head injury, that he had to give blood and he had to get him home to the states for proper care. He tElls me he had to pay for all the medical up front and cannot finish paying for the airline tickets and ask for $4800.00. I tell him I dont have that kind of money and we go back and forth for a couple of days and he gets up set and tells me I could at least send him some packet money for food due to him having to spend all he has on medical treament for his only son.

I called Africa and spoke to this man ( he is good at his scam) I even wire money to Africa. He ask me to send it to Craig Moose as he was with his son at the hospital and Craig was from there and new the country well and he didnt.

WHEN I CALLED HIM ON IT HE THREATEN ME AND MY FAMILY. I HAVE THE EMAILS AS PROOF. CRAIG MOOSE, CRAIG GREISON AND MICHAEL(MIKE) CHAREST ALL THE SAME. IT IS A SCAM.

I met one of this scammer through to http://www.interpals.net
his profile is still there donald12 and he has fake photo there. He said he is from TX and working in uk at oil rig company and his Nigerian wife died 8 years ago and has 13 years old daughter who lives in Nigeria with grandparents. He said he can not go out of rig untill end of month but his daughter Jane need special school sertificate to study in other countries and she has to pay 500 USD as a fee and he wanted me to send money through to western union on name suzzy briggs and gave me details to transfer money.
no 24 stadium road port high court
He still doesn’t know that I know he is scammer and waiting money from me. I told him I have debts to bank and can’t use credit cards and no western union office here. He wanted me to drive to Greece to send money. (He thinks I am that stupid!) His email address is : donaldclinton@ymail.com
and his daughters (!) smilingbaby_jane10@yahoo.com
Today I send him email I need 1500 USD for my coart case and if I pay it I will get 40 000 USD and I need his help in urgent!:-)) So far no news!
Well, it was a tragedy for me at the begining but now turned on to comedy! Please be carefull and share your experiences and also maybe good idea to write to Nigerian Embassy all the information about them!
Sera

I also have this scammer and he gives me the daughter’s email smiling_jane10@yahoo.com and wants money. But I will say the same as you did theat I have a court case. Thanks for your advice. It; s terrible.
best wishes Maggie
ps he is garygibson101@yahoo.com

I have a similar story but thank goodness for people coming forward and making it public knowledge on the web.Like many of the other stories I got caught up in a scam for a couple of days. Again on Match.com which seem to have their fair share of these individuals. Mine was an architect widower Mom & Dad killed in car accident wife died of breast cancer brought up 7year old girl who was of African origin by the picture sent. Got me on messenger DPQ and I thought it was funny when the question came up very early on as to if I owned my own house or not not usually the first thing that comes up. I got swept away I have to admit but wondered why my questions were always avoided I smelt a rat then tonight he rang me sounded African with a slight American accent so I told him to get lost. I was lucky I didnt loose anything and I told him he had been found out he even texted me to ask if I had found another man and if I were a “player” I texted back saying I thought he was an African scammer her never replied. Hopefully another poor woman wont get suckered in by him. I reported this to Match.com who I hope act on it.

I read all of the above stories and they all seem very similar. I have been on and off of match.com. I did meet someone that too was gorgeous and wrote such a nice email to me. He made first contact, so I contacted him back and we emailed on there for a couple of days. Like all the others moved to yahoo messenger but alot of people use that because it is easier. He would send these wonderful poems everyday and then began to profess his love? How can you know you love someone without meeting them?? According to this man, he lived in Louisville, CO ran his own construction business and was working on some big project that he was hoping to win. Both of his parents were killed in a motorcycle accident and raised his younger sister which was 12 years younger?? Red Flag there. As we approached Valentine Day he asked for my address. I was not going to give him my home address but gave him my work address because of the high security we have here. I got a delivery on Thursday before Valentine’s, it was products from the Body Shop. Then on Friday night he asked if I got my valentine present, which I told him I did. But he said no that I was getting something else. Again being delivered to my office. I got a call from UPS on saturday and had to go pick it up at my office building. He left Friday for Portagul which is where his sister lived. During the time he was there he copied me on an email supposedly from Africa. I guess this is where the project was to build roads and bridges. So he has to do some sort of presentation by the 21st of this month. He made me call the guy in Africa and see if they could extend it so that he could fly to Texas to spend time with me because that was his priority, to me that did not make any sense!! Who in their right mind would give up a 1.7M contract to fly to Texas. Anyway he had to go so left Portagul on Thursday and flew to Africa. Did not hear anything until just before 8am my time stating he had a major problem. When he arrived he tried to send me an email to let me know he was there and blew up his computer. He wanted me to buy one and send it Fed Ex to Africa. I wouldn’t do it, didn’t have the money. Wierd, we were talking then all of a sudden he said I gotta go now??? Did not hear from him again until this past Tuesday. But the package from the Body Shop? I looked at the Sold to Party? Not the person who I knew, someone else’s name. I called the Body Shop and had them lookup the order. Wanted to find out who sent it. She said could not tell me without their permission so I said you look it up and I will tell you who I think sent it. I said Richard Harrison and she said no. The person on my receipt was Kevin Carlson. I told her I think this stuff was purchased with a stolen cc and reported it as a scam. I then in turn called Match.com where we met and also reported him. He never got anything out of me and never will. Buyer beware!!

Thanks for your comment. I’m a victim of Richard Harrison who contacted me from Perfectmatch.com. Ricard Harrison used same story and same tactics as you mentioned. After he told me that he blew up his computer, I spent $750 to get him a HP laptop and over $300 to FedEx the computer to Ghana (I lost my job for more than a year). The good thing is that I found your posting in time. I requested FedEx to return the laptop before it’s delivered.

You provided good information about Richard Harrison that can be someone else. But I want to add the following so that others won’t be fooled by him again:

1. He sent emails with “wonderful poems” and “Bible Words”.
2. He used “Yahoo messenger” to chat and “send text message to your cell phone. He won’t give you his phone number.
3. He had an accent from “Portugal”
4. He went to Ghana from Texas for that 1.7 million contact but his computer blew up. He needed a new one for presentation.
5. He finally left a hotel phone number but can only call after 7 am EST….00233-543-233-302. This was after he learned the laptop would be returned.
6. His Email address is rich_lucky11@yahoo.com

Richard Harrison has been removed by Perfectmatch.com due to violation of the Terms of Use agreement. Beware!

Renee did he ever say anything about having a son that he has full custody of and that they actually in stateside but he has his own company where she goes in and out the country for work. and also that his ex slept with his best friend?

I am single mum and I met him on interpals.net and his profile name is donald12 and he uses Donald Clinton as a his name (probably he is Nigerian!) And he wrote to me he is from Texas but working in UK, for oil rig company and his Nigerian wife dead by the car accident and his 13 years old daughter living with grandparents in Africa. He said end of Africa he will finish his job and he will get his daughter from Africa and they will come to see me and my daughter. He said all he wants is to have happy family life again with me and my daughter. Mean time I got email from his daughter Jane calling me “dear mum” and telling me her father told about me and how happy she is about and she is hoping we will be family very soon. And after few days I get email from his daughter (probably not existing daughter!) writing that she needs to do special exam to stduy in States or anywhere and she needs to pay 500 USD as a fee and while her father not able to send any money from oil rig, asking me to help her as a mum!
That was the signal for me, I started searching websites for scammers and read such a similar stories, couldn’t believe it! And mean time his daughter and him writing to my 13 years daughter. He is so much caring about my daughter, and he wrote me ” he will pay me very soon that money and he will help me about financila problems, he gets 65.000 USD for a month but now he can not send any money from there! I said sorry but not possibile, I am single mum and I have difficulty to pay my credit cards debts. He said it is lifely important. (Ofcourse at the begining I had no idea about scammers and gave him my mobile number! ) he started calling me and telling me how important that exam for his daughter. (His parents also dead years ago!) Anyway, I said I found only 100USD, he wanted to send it Janes’s teacher Suzzy Briggs with western union , I told him there is no western union here and I can not use my credit cards or account because of my debts! (By the way, not easy to understand his English on the phone) I was %100 sure he is scammer but did not tell anything and wanted to see how far he will go. I started playing same game back:-) I wrote such a lovely email to his daughter ( well I must say we enjoyed doing that with my friend and I will wirte a book about it:-))
I wrote how sorry I am but she shouldn’t worry about anything, if she can’t do that exam she will study with my daughter in same class and maybe we can go for holiday alltogether and how much I love her and her father.
And few days I did not talk and said my mum was at the hospital..
He was so angry that date is over for exam and he started being unpolite to me. I kept telling how much I love him!
It was like a game for us.. I even said I won coart case about my car accident and to get 45 000 USD from coart I need to pay 5000 USD to lawyer and I can not find it.. Well he did not offer to send a penny!:-) Two days he was quite.. Than he called yesterday , it was not easy to understand his talking. When I asked “if everything is ok” he said “no” . And this evening he called again with worried voice, said his daughter had car accident when she was going to internet cafe to write me and she is in come now and need operation immadiately and he siad “you know I can not do anything from here..” I did not listen more just put it off and he called again I did like it is terribile connection and I can not hear him! He tried few times more and gave up. Probably I will get email from him soon. But I already wrote few sentences to send him. Do you wnat to know:-) ” I can not go on further this stupid game!
Biggest stupid is who thinks he is more clever than others!”

I must say at the begining I believed him but when he asked for money that was it! I never send any money. But I can understand all the women how they believe this scammers, because they are not really stupid and they could be very succesful writers! If you read their emails you think “Yes, that is mr. right and I am so lucky to meet him!”
:-))
I report few times to interpals moderator about him but nobody did anything, his profile is still there!. I wonder if they are working together!:-)

I am 48 and went to a christian dating site because I thought it would be more mature and a little more safe…The man that emailed me through the site. I only remember glancing at his profile it didnt interest me because it was way out of my league…so he emails me says he doesnt have a memembership he was only there for the free 5 days offered wanted my email address to continue to talk to me..ok did that then after a couple of emails wants me to go to yahoo messenger….I had no yahoo account because I didnt like yahoo to begin with but just to keep talking to the BS’er why not. He had an extremely strong thought vibration. It was so strong that it felt like someone was in my house…I am serious his projection skills were so overhelmingly developed that I went to my closet and dug my gun out because I felt I needed to start protecting myself. that is exactly how strong he came across…wealth and power right well ….ok so he is a scammer but not Niegian…Ghana….on a mission from God to do road work in Ghana….It was the same project stories all the others have told only he screwed up right from the get go! His momma was australian aboriginal and dad Jewish! oh yea, he tried to BS the BS’er on that, however its not uncommon to be white but just rare like albino’s are. only he said that his dad had an extra strong gene! well I told him he was a trick baby……needless to say deeply offended he was…..claims to live in Galt,California as he says but had to fly to london 3 weeks mission project then Ghana Africa for another yes project….While in Africa and by now he is im’ing me 2 – 3 times a day and 2 weeks away from coming back to the US He says honey I just spent $480,000 on a kilo of diamonds and it was all of my pay….a week later he says its Urgent I need money for suntan oil because sun to hot and and my phone got rolled over by a drum roller…send $500 and I will have my guy pick it up at the western union and you know I will pay you back! I laughed my rearend off serious I told him he was playing me but I backed my mouth off because…now take note my first thought sociopath. He went from very intellucutal to totallly dumb ass stupid….yes becareful out there sociopaths can be very dangerous scam yes but I believe this one is not a normal scammer of west coast africa. He has all the strong traits of a sociopath sex predator. The more I kept him talking and I documented everything even the chats are all saved I found in certain stories a need for certian type of an addiction…the feel of wealth, power and sex . I emailed him a weblink on Ghana Scams and cyber crimes….In the end he lost not one red penny came out of my pockets…but I did not make any reference to his frame of mind nor did I accuse him of anything….I backed out the door telling him I am flat broke never had any money and by the way my whole church prayed for your suntan oil and new phone and gave him the name of the closes missionary station that he can go to for church services and God will carry him through..I thought it would be safer to make myself look bad shameful even then for me to use foul language…havent heard a word from him since

You are not alone and I am sorry for everyone whose heart was ripped from them by these evil scammers that claim they are “God-fearing.”

I am a victim of facing the emotional toll of a broken heart and the healing process. My scammer used photos of a very appealing U.S. Army Captain and write the right words. I was sucked in – I am a die-hard admirer and supporter of our armed forces. Although I am in a lot of pain and cry every day, I discovered my scammer on May 2nd and ended all contact on May 7th. We spoke daily for almost a month, so it wasn’t a long time compared to others, but when you’re talking about a woman that is almost 48, has been single (date-less) for over six years, it’s easy to fall for what you’ve yearned for so long.

My problem lies in having fell for the man in the photos. All of a sudden I find myself trying to track him down (his full name is visible on his uniform which was so convenient for the scammer) when he may be married with a family. I want to stop what has become my obsession with trying to find him. I am trying to do everything I can to stop searching and Google-ing his name through military sites, etc. I ask myself “and if you find him, then what?” Well, I would just warn him that someone in Ghana is posing as him with numerous photos of him and ask if those were obtained perhaps because he was on a dating site and was scammed himself! That is possible!

Just for the record, I reported my ordeal along with the photos to the soldier’s Army base/unit and I also placed a report at IC3.gov.

The most difficult part for me has been healing and accepting I will not meet this soldier. He’s not breath-taking handsome, I don’t want anyone to think I am shallow and fell in love with someone because of his looks, but he seems interesting and I love his smile and coupled with the romance built with the scammer, I created a picture that turns out to be nothing but fiction.

Sad, sad, sad. I can’t believe this has been happening for years and I had not heard one word about this until it happened to me. We need to spread the word a lot more than what we have. I am registered on match.com and so far, only scammers have contacted me, now I am a pro at spotting them. It’s sad that I paid almost $100 for membership just to be approached by scammers and match.com will not respond to my request for a refund.

Good luck everyone. All I can do now is pray for a quick recovery and to somehow move on from this horrible experience.

I had a similar experience with Michael Daniels from Lagos Nigeria works for comcast for contracts for the phone systems in Nigeria. He was from Texas and parents both died in a car crash he had no family because of money and how he was treated when his family died. He first sent love poems and pictures only 3 could see him up close in the third one but he was on a boat very nice boat.. i asked him for more pictures..he couldnt provide then he told me he loved me in a week i was the one for him. he loved me and wanted to be there for me.. how he wants to give me a family and take care of me.. it was not something i used to. the emails kept coming of love and a life together then i am very cautious of things thats why he had to argue with me and pray, but was eager to do phone sex which i could not do.. he was very convincing.. saying his needed money for contract form.. i asked why he would need a dime to get a contract. and why didnt verizon help him he had to pay for the room he was in and would pay me back.. then it was you are the one.. i need u baby.. then he didnt have money for food. i told him i hope he wasnt scamming me because i was going to pray a spirit get rid of him. long story short i did research couldnt find any school records or old addresses or article of parents death. i looked at the profile he placed on the website and did a google search for the subject he used and found that he had used the same message on other websites but the pictures were different but just used the same subject.. i caution any woman to look out for these people are cruel to do this..i researched you tube there is a nigerian comedian who makes fun of americans who get scammed

Please can anyone help me i have been scammed by a captain james totter who is in iraq and from georgia he has so called to kids and a maid called mary copeland he has had all my money and i have lost my home because of him. If anyone else has been scamed by him can you let me know thank you

Hi, I´m from Germany. Did´nt know that scammers exist, but have rules in life, I lerned from experience to follow.
I got contacted on Neu.de (germany) which is meetic.com in
the US. My scam used the name of an US Army Col. Mike Courts,
(he changed it in Michael Coats Worth, but I found out, googeling. Same story as read before, wanted to talk to me on msn rightaway, was very sweet, looked for me all thise years
after losing his very beloved wife in a car acident, his only
14j old son, living in an eternal school near New York, he´s on duty in Bagdad, sitting in Al FAW Palace (tis is all reaLLY true, just not the scam sits there, its the Col. himself) and he will retire within a few weeks. We talked 4 weeks, even called me from WAR!! was totally emotionally
captured, cos I worried every day. He told me about shootings with Taliban, 2 of his best men killed by them,
then he in a bomb blast, 4 of his men burned to death next to him. On the first phonecall he asked me to send § 3ooo.- to send to London to some guy he bought a house from in Miami. He also owned an appartement in New York, 4 bedroom in a highrise. I said, no way, Ihelp anyway I can, no money order though. He gave me the phonenr. of the guy in London waiting for the Colonels next payment. I called the guy and was very sure than, it was a set up, cos this guy had an african accent. So I told him on the phone know he is a scam. He denied of course but did´n´t keep contact.
After a few weeks now he got back with the bomb blasting story and he was in the hospital for 6 weeks now.
I quit talking now … still not really sure, cos I also fell in Love with the picture and the warm and loveful letters all the time. But I know, ´m just a victim of my dreams,I ´m over it now! Thank you God, you safed me!

hello there
Here another one very diff from alot of yours but all the same a scammer .Met the most wonerful us armt captain on friends dating site, once again switch to yahoo account to talk ,we got on very well said everything i wanted to hear even got my kids involved with him calling them his daughters they also spoke to him.He would contact me everyday by text ,email,msn,even phone calls ,he was an american .Then came the the problems his leave had been cancelled so i was asked to apply on his behalf which i did to a usarmy welfare site .Everything i checked out and it seemed correct this site support my claim with offical docs ,form etc all sign by top military personal dated and stamp ,then they stated asking for money for admin fees travel clearance security clearance etc which i paid totaling 15000 pounds was given fight detail times etc ,but of cause dan did not show .I have since found out this man has 10 diff names scaming everyone he is a big time scammer and is now on a lot of scam beware sites under lots of his names.Here a just a few to watch out for
jeffrey smith
mark bruno
mark a
terry kevin
roy ugbechie
and my soldier
daniel victor nolan
there are more but watch out for these

I found this site it has page,s & page,s of scammers & info about scams,everyone who use,s the internet should read,sorry to hear that all you ladies have been scamed by these scum
please have a look at this site
scamwarners.com

Richard Harrison is still at his game using the same story he used in Feb 2009. One would think he would come up with a new story line. Everything is the same except now he asks for Iphones and Ipods not computers. He claims to live in Cleveland Ohio. What a scary thought that he continues on in his game, although I admit, he is good at it. He continues to quote the Bible and write beautiful poetry. He now uses an 11 year old son to gain sympathy and gifts for ‘Josh’, the light of his life. My biggest red flag regarding Richie came when I asked him what grade his son was in and he answered “the third grade” at age 11? EVERYONE beware of Richie, I don’t think he will stop with me.

I think I have now met your Richie, but what is funny is that I have sent him nothing but words back and forth, and my father is a cop so I spent many hours yesterday trying to research his background story which was falling a part as we were speaking! i caught him in his lie and I dismissed him!, but now the son’s name is Alex and he is 6 so he did fix the age grade thing… LOL and also that he is home schooled… LOL thank you for all your information!

Please contact Edie Cartwright of the Nevada State Attorney’s office 775.684.1189. She is prosecuting a “Mark Jones” who operates in the US and UK. Or go to this website ag.state.nv.us/newsroom/press/2010/Release%20-%20Eaglefinger.pdf

Mark D. Jones, age 43, formerly of Las Vegas, Nevada, has been indicted on multiple felony charges including one (1) count of Securities Fraud, one (1) count of Offering to Sell or Sale of an Unregistered Security, one (1) count of Transacting Business as an Unlicensed Broker-dealer and/or Sales Representative and one (1) count of Theft with the Value of Property in Excess of $2500. All of the pending charges are Category B felonies and carry a possible prison sentence of one (1) to twenty (20) years.

Heather, I know it’s hard, but try to realize that the photo he’s using is very probably NOT him, and that these guys have scripts that they follow. Try a google search for “real faces of Nigerian scammers; they pretend to be western citizens but on the whole they are not.

I believe I have been scammed. I have just now read this scams and I have been IM a man that says he is from Florida but went to Africa on business. He is a Computer Analyst, I have sent him 3,000.00 western union. I have feel in love with him he tells me that he wants to marry me when he gets here. I am heartbroken now because I have feel in love with him and now I hear these stories and I am just sick now not because of the money but because I loved him. Now what do I do?

Peggy,sorry about this.these guys are terible.first you need to get out of any emotional involvement with him. it’s not easy but you have to do it. then if he doesn’t know you now know the truth, you can set a trap for him with the FBI. there are some stories here that you can use as a guide. let me know how it goes.

I think I have been scammed by a man with a Dutch accent (probably Afrikaans) who claims to be a citizen of the UK and of the Netherlands, has an elaborate story about owning an organic farm in Colorado, homes in L.A., Pomona, CA, sold them all to invest in “timber logs, which took him to Nigeria. He gave me what seemed to be a London number to call–it wasn’t; it’s a forwarding number with a “7045” prefix. (NEVER CALL ONE, it cost me $200 for a very brief call!) He claims to be a widower (wife died of diabetes); left an adopted 5 year old daughter, who now lives with his sister in law in St. Petersburg, Russia. Claims to be an only child, both parents deceased. HE is very good, very convincing. I was swept along and didn’t think to check the address header of his original email for some time–guess what? According to it, he has been in Nigeria all along, I suspect was only pretending to be in London. Always has a reason that could be a mistake. Got very intense very fast; proposed right away. Met him on Perfect Match. Hit me up for money because he overextended himself purchasing timber; plays on emotions, manipulates, tries to guilt me into sending money (accuses of “backing up on him. Has a purported attorney assisting him and even investing in his business. I spoke to the attorney at Abraham’s insistence; he is a different person, but that is not unusal with a scam. I could find no evidence that my scammer was born where he said he was born (also gave a date that is often used by scammers, Jan. 1); can’t find a bar association license number for the attorney; none of the places he claimed to own property in the States have a record of him in the limited unpaid internet search I conducted. Claims to have a business registered in the UK but would never tell me its name. He is very strong-willed and does not take no for an answer. Insists that his “principles” demand that you TRUST him and send him money because he says so. Berated me for behaving like a man because I defied him and insisted I had to have proof of his existence and the commercial transactions the money was supposedly needed for. (He would send them AFTERWARDS, but not before.) His photos are of a very tall handsome man with close-cut brown hair, very vivid blue-green eyes, one in an expensive tailored black suit with a Rolex watch conspicuously dsplayed, two others in a casual white scoop-neck T with a striking brunette child. Speaks with a very thick Afrikaans accent; barely intelligible.

I’m not sure what is going on with me. I know I am being scammed, it has to be. Can’t find out enough information to settle my heart but God, he is perfect. I am not the one anymore to fall for this stuff, but this one came in the back door because I support our military. Part of an organization that does. Came in through that door and through a long list of my friends. Oh my, I went back on facebook and looked at all his friends….they are connected to me. I don’t know what I have here. I love the heck out of whoever is on that other end of these emails. GO figure. So not my style. This guy stole my heart and soul though. Real or not, and if he is not, I want the chance to hunt him down. I half to find the guy whose picture I see and I have to clear his name too. It is so wrong and I need help and I am loosing it here. I can’t take it. THis guy integrated himself into all my friends from high school, etc, family. There is no where for me to go to escape this. I even told my precious kids at school. I need to get out of my area and I am going to fall to pieces here. I need some type of help to see if I am correct about this guy. Someone has to at least tell me if I am wrong or right. I really need help. 909-338-2826

Vicki in regards to what you have posted.Do you know for a fact that he resides in the US?If he does not that is a red flag.Has he asked you for money? Another red flag….I have learned that the person on the other end writing the emails is not so real,they are good at what they do scamming others.That is from my own personal experience.I am sorry but you have not given out alot of information about this guy.Would like to know more…..

Ladies watch out for a Mac Thompson(Mark Fernando Thompson) he claims to be a self contractor working over in Africa.Owning his own business which he took over after his Fathers death.Recently claims to have been awarded his largest contract with AGL Energy Limited in Australia.I have the forged contract.He is using a large energy company in North Sidney, Australia to scam on others.He claims to be from New Orleans Louisiana lost everything in the hurricane.He claims to have a daughter Betty who is 10 years old whom he is raising.His so called address is 32 Ajayi Rd Ogba Ifako Iaye Logos,Nigeria.He has changed his phone number a few times here they are – 0112348131206395,0112347042179924.He also goes by the name Jones Grishman address is 23 Adeyemi Ave.Ikeja Logos, Nigeria 23401.He has two profiles on my yearbook and is on five other dating sites that I have found.Of course using a different pic which I have since found on the scammers list.Yes I have been scammed, but most important of all is to give this information I have, in hoping to prevent this from happening to others.I hope this evil so called human being to be caught and brought to justice. The God fearing man he proclaims to be ,now I know why he fears God.

i cant believe what im reading,i feel so violated as to what is happening,,i was goin to get money for him to be home,,we chatted for months,,he was a american soldier in afghanistan,,we clicked he also called me his wife and he truly loved me,,,i was goin to send more money to bring him home,,but luckily i stumbled onto this site with the name colonel robert gonzelez,,requesting paymnt for him to come home…..i am so disgusted,,the soldier who claims his name is captain sanchez smith,,,,wat do i do now??? i live in australia so who do i notify as to what has happened,,im in tears as i was goin to send a large amount of money that i coudnt afford,,so i was goin to get a personal loan,,,i thank GOD,,I DID SOME BROWSING……

Marcella, I’m sorry about what happened with this guy.that’s how they operate.like you said, thank God you didn’t send money. but the personal hurts are still there. you can contact folks with the same story with you here.they will be of help to you in getting over this scam.

Ive been scammed for the last year. He claims to be a 41year old man who is working in a top secret US Army base in Baghdad.He is also trained as a pyscologist. His name is James Goulding who has family in Sheerness in Kent. I still cant get my head around it as I dont want to believe that it is a scam,but looking at everyones posts then it must be. He said that his wife died at childbirth and that he had a young son called John who lived with his auntie in Spain. I found him on the website and his picture was gorgeous.We spoke all the time on MSN and told me everything a woman wants to hear. He kept calling me his wife and telling me how much he loved me. He said that his bank had been frozen as someone clonned his card and he needed to get back to England to sort his bank out.He gave me his number but said that it was a pager so we could only text each other. He asked me to put money on it for him every now and again. I feel so stupid now. He first asked me to email the US Army to ask for compasionate leave and I received many emails from them with official papers,with US stamps on it,so how could it be a scam??? But yet again as I have seen its Col Steve Clark again. Money was passed from me for different things including money for leave,which never happened and money for his sons camping trip and even money for a flight for a colleague to come over from another country to relieve him so he could come home to me. All these transactions were done through Westen Union and were ging to other names like John Goulding and Jeremiah James. How can he get the money from these names? Does anyone know? I think I was being blinded by love and I still dont want to believe it but looking back I am finding flaws in our conversations that dont add up. I did speak to him twice but his voice sounded really wierd.It was a mixture of dutch,American and something else. He has gone a bit quiet on me now but I dont think he realises I am now on to him although my purse is much lighter. I have sent him a message to say that I have come into some money and that I will do anything to get him home. Lets see how quick he will reply to me and I will play him at is own game and take it from there. Has anyone else got the same story?????

Beware of religious and fake love charmers, and people who send beautiful love poetry everyday to charm you!It all started on facebook this past summer while I was working at my small business. I never thought or dreamed it could happen to me,even though I knew scams existed. I always considered myself intelligent,street smart,never niave, and was never one to be duped by anyone. Yet this summer I, like the rest of you, was scammed out of $3,000.00 which I sent my scammer whom I believed really needed my help. That is their hook, they know we just have to care and help, because I think they know the type of people that are easy prey. I was hooked in, and still am emotionally, but am breaking away. I think they use techniques to do this. I was sent the most beautiful love and inspirational poems by this man who is an expert at love and beauty, charming like you cant imagine, and extremely intelligent about life and god and people. It was almost worth the money for the beauty he brought me. Because of his strong dedicated and religious beliefs in humanity and god, I never suspected anything until he asked for the money. We talked hours same time everyday on facebook,and yahoo webcam intensively, (yes I saw him live) and I even phoned him, and he me, but very little. It cost me over 1000.00 international calls. I also sent him a suit, jewelry, and some things like pictures, paying alot to ship overseas. He kept me constantly busy working on visas with pictures that would never be acceptable to visa standards , and it seemed I was always kept busy regarding him in some way. I even spent over 3,000.000 redecorating my place because I believeed he was really coming here to be with me. I also was told to buy candles, and make the bedroom special, all ploys to make me believe he was really coming here. This was just to prepare me for when he would ask for money. When I originally met him he was living supposedly in Paris,France as a chef. After only two intensive emotional months of talking to him, he told me he was returning to his country in northern Africa, Algiera. When he arrived he told me he needed to get his stuff thru customs, that he would lose 50,000 dollars worth of various merchandise that he was importing, and sounded extremely agitated, freaking out everyday, (he could get an academy award for the acting, probably a sociopath or pathological liar)devastated, extremely in a nervous breakdown over it, so I felt very obligated to help him because he was literally crying with tears and begging me and so devastated. Being in business he knew that I could relate to something like that, that was his hook on me. I had first sent 1000.00, I pawned some things, sold my college and highschool rings, and other gold jewelry to raise the cash to help him. When that wasnt enough he asked all his family and friends everyday supposedly, and was up late hours every night making me check in with him, and had to have the last 2,000.00 from me or it would all be for nothing, he would go nto jail a long time, and the pressure was tremendous and he just kept asking everyday until he wore me down and I sent it. He literally harrassed me and brainwashed me out of it. He had to come up with 15,0000 dollars and deadlines came and went every week at customs, saying he would be arrested and we wouldnt be able to get him a visa if that happened so he could come here to be with me. I made myself a pest everyday trying to find out more about him with the expensive phone calls.I feel he sensed this because many times he would deliberately keep me on the phone running up the bill so i wouldnt beable to keep calling him. No where on any websights was he mentioned,and I searched for weeks. When I would call he was always too busy to talk and always wanted me to call back another time. He would only answer at certain times, and lots of times he would hang up on me. His whole facebook is all women. Before I gave him the money,the first time he closed his facebook account and reopened one with a new name and put me right back on. Think he either got kicked off or was hiding away from someone that he scammed there. When I sent him things I sent by regular mail this last time and he wasnt too happy, and still never acknowledes getting itbut he did post pictures in his suit I sent. I believe he must be talking to lots of women because he forgets what I say, and I dont even think he is reading any messages. He asks for money about every 3 weeks or less, and I ignore, so he is backing off now, but still think he will try to keep me hooked with the love stuff. This was an extremely painful experience and now I have trust issues that I never had, and dont even want a man anymore. I had a few arguements with him about all this which was very hard to do to confront him because I know it means the end but I did anyway. Working in sales it is very difficult to fucntion some days because it can be very upsetting. I feel bad for everyone else who got hurt too. In the USA we live a different kind of life. Many counrties are so poor that people are actually starving and have very little work or money and beg,steal, and con to survive. I think that is what has happened, but the scammeras have learned to take advantage of Americans. They know we live better and everyone there thinks everyone here is rich.In a way they are right. But it is still a bad excuse to steal peoples money, and that is what the scammers do for a living. Someday the scammers will get caught up in their own schemes, and as the saying is, what goes around, comes back around. Let god be the one to judge and get even. There day will one day come along because they cant get away with it forever. So take solace in that. it is a hard way to learn a bad lesson. Even though these people exist, there are still good honest people out there somewhere. The lesson learned here is dont interact in relationships in online love, only the real thing will do, and even then it is wise to be careful.

If you are not having a good vibe about it then he is not who he claims to be.I hope you have not sent any money to him.Google his name and you might find info about him.Go to scammers lists look at the pics you might see his there.It makes me ill knowing that everyday thousands of people are being scammed.I have read back in the archives scammers bragging about how much they have made taking from others.Bragging about their house and three cars.But in the end it all comes down to judgement day….

This is for Comment No.37. I have also had the experience of Lt James Goulding (Raymond M Klose). This Raymond M Klose has the exact same information as Lt James Goulding. It is the same person.He asked me for £750 as a oan for the woman who is looking after his mum who is in a wheelchair. I told him not to ask me for money and get a job. He is a fraud and if he contacts you please don’t correspond with him. It is his job to scam as many women as he can as the same time. The pictures are most probably stolen from facebook. The scammer is most probably a nigerian who is desparate for MONEY. This scammer will stop at nothing to get his way and has no remorse.

This is for Comment NO. 37 Please don’t feel guilty about anything. You are not to blame because you was just looking for someone to love you. I have this scammers details and I am goin to try to get some justice for all the women he has scammed including myself. I was lucky to have gone on the scammers website otherwise maybe I would have given him money. He is a pathetic individual and there is a saying ‘what goes round comes round’. Please see yourself as a genuine individual and I pray that you find someone decent to love you as you should be loved. Try to put this in the past and move on to lovely pastures. There are lovely men out there I promise you. I too will find someone decent. Take care.

Im julia and i must say most of this sides are scammers from nigeria and ghana which using names from american socialites army proffessionals and you can see their grammar in writing and when the try to speak american languages

I was scammed out of a huge amount of money then im a loving caring person im elderly and good looking.but i also found out one scammer give your adress the next one and it is a huge circel who is working on your brain .The take you in with promiss of marriage after 2 to 3 month to get money out of you i can send some chats we had and you can see all they want is your money and give a damm you dont even have nothing to eat
But where are the police the goverments to stop it or western union who knews they are scammers and take peoples money
julia

I belive i am being scammed right now i hav been crying all day! He claims to be in his fiftys a widower his parents died when he was ten years old he has a11year old daughter jane who lives with her grandma in africa and attends a missionary school,while he lives in ireland working on a oil rig he says he spends four weeks working in ireland and then has three weeks off wich he goes back to florida,he says he wnts to get married to me and that he loves me already after just nine days,and said that his daughter jane is happy that i am her mum, he also said he gaive my email address to jane so she can get in touch with her new mum!i will contiue to entertain him for further evedince, just be careful out thet!

I am so tired of these so called ” God Fearing”
scammers,they are everywhere.They should fear because the are going to burn in Hell for all their lies and taking from others.I belong to a site and warn others when I see one.It is a sad story that the US will not do anything about these scumbags,and they know it and that is why it continues……

Wow…can’t believe there are so many of us. Met “Iloyd Chambers” on facebook, received a friend request after posting on the “House” fb page. Claimed I had a beautiful smile and he liked what I said. Very good-looking and sexy man whom all my friends said looked like Vin Diesel. Talked for 3 weeks on Yahoo messenger at his request. Was supposedly from Nashville, TN, a construction engineer now living and working in London. Had a brother in the states who he posted pictures of. Both parents were dead and had been alone and celebate for 7 years since the death of his fiance 2 days before the wedding. She was shot helping a battered woman escape a monster husband. The husband shot and killer fiance as well as his wife. I was first attempt at love after all this time. Very polite, said all the right things, very religious. Perfect guy…haha. Talked for a month 3 times a day. Very consistant and dependable. 3 weeks in claimed he loved me and I was his angle who was heaven sent. Also had several phone calls, but I was always the one to call,(he couldn’t get through because of network problems). Yes, he got a contract for Nigeria, Benin City, and three days after arriving asked me to recieve a wire transfer from someone in the states and then wire to him. Would not be able to fulfill his contract if this was not done. I immediately knew it was a scam attempt and quickly told him I did not trust him and to leave me alone. He went on to confess to me that it was a scam and the pic and name was not him. But get this…wanted to come clean with me and continue the relationship. After berating him for some time I refused and deleted him from messenger. Within an hour his fb account was deleted and there are no traces of him online anymore at all. I did report to IC3 in hopes of preventing anyone else for falling for this. And I too, would like to find out who’s photo this was and warn them also…think this may just be part of the emotional attraction I had to this pic that I stared at for so long, so will not try to find out anymore. This practice is very cruel and abusive and more people need to know that it goes on, so that is the reason I have shared with you guys.

Does this telephone is from Nigeria?
2347063805340
Does someone can help me out?
I once was scam by a man living in Africa. Is been more than 5 years now and i really forgot all the details. But now a man contact me in facebook 2 days ago and claim is a engineer living in UK but origanally from Nashville, Tenn, USA also a widowed and a son 8 year old. I just met him 2 days ago, but he called right away cause my number in in facebook. I dont want to go through the same suffering again. Can someone help me?

Michael Silva… from match.com, photo of a nice guy with dark blond hair and blue eyes, and a young boy with a bowl-cut hair style … they are on a boat. He claims to live in New York, but was raised in England. Is in Nigeria building a bridge. Came on hot and heavy… I told him to back off, friendships, much less love, take time. Boom… hits me with his hotel catching fire, he and his son were in the hospital – son is still there and he needs money for son’s medical bills. Joke’s on him – I don’t have it to send. I’m separated, going through a divorce, and not the most trusting individual on Earth. He pushed and plead for 30 minutes – finally I told him I’m done… don’t contact me again. Then I found the postings about the Nigerian scams. Good thing my BS meter was working.

I was contacted by someone on one of the free dating sites. Actually I contacted him cause he had an amazing smile. He came on so strong after that with the love yous and tons of kisses and poetry. Told me he was SSG James Barby on deployment in Libya but they would be pulling out in a few months. I thought “cool” it will be nice to meet. He immediately asked me to send money to “make a phone connection”. HUH?? That didnt make sense to me but I sent the $282 he asked for anyway. It was sent Western Union to Sandra Anderson in Haslet, TX. He said she was the local coordinator. I am not financially strapped so I figured if he’s legitimate, I get to talk to him. If he’s not, well he must really need the money. Either way, I felt ok parting with this amount. He said it would take 3 days to make the connection. Three days later he called. ok . . . now, the pictures I saw looked like a corn fed white boy soldier with a great smile and nice eyes with BARBY in his uniform. The man I spoke to on the phone WAS NOT this person. For someone born and raised in California, he sure sounded African. . . . born and raised African . . I told him just that and he was offended . . . so I thought ok . . . I’ll give this man benefit of the doubt and told him lets slow way way way down and when we meet face to face and I was wrong, I have no problem admitting I was wrong. He didnt understand why I didnt trust him. I asked for his APO address he gave me one 2 days later that was WAY bogus. He gave his troop/ platoon name as Amphibious Squadron 6 (thats a marine thing) and the zip was to London, England. A few days after that he said he could put in for leave but theres a fee if its not for emergengy reasons. . . fee=$8000. I told him not happening and it doesnt matter if I have the cash or not. I will not spend my hard earned money on this. I told him if hes been rattling my cage all this time and hes trying to victimize me, it wont be happening. Another thing I noticed, when he wrote me short messages (email to text) his grammar was very badand he used u for you and cos for cause and wants for want. He used honey and babe excessively. But when he wrote long emails to my email, they were beautiful. Im thinking he had the help of some really nice greeting cards. The bottom line is I told him when he returns, he knows how to contact me; but should I find he has been less than 100% honest with me, I will never forgive and we will not be friends or anything else. Im lonely but not stupid. He responded with “Babe wat do u mean honey?”
(great big double exhaustive sigh)

1. The Pics he put on his profile is too perfect.
2. The first thing he going to ask u as soon as he introduce himself is your education,Job and income.
3. He never goes on cam.
4.Always have a high profile job
5.The second time he chat with u he already saying i love you. Thats bullshit.

Note: REMEMBER if someone is so good looking with a high profile job is single that need to consider back and think wisely WHY i s he single and he is desperately looking for someone on the net??? Remember IF it is Too good to be true then u need to stop. Anything to do with Nigeria..run away dont even bother to waste your time. REMEMBER no NORMAL true in love guy who claim to be rich asking for money from someone he claim to be in love with! Wake up everyone…there is nothing to good to be true on the net! This con man is aiming all the lonely ladies who happen to join the dating site..IF someone ask for money on the net RUN AWAY as fast as u can dont even bother to think twice.

About

Hi. I am Alan Prince. I created this blog in order to give you the very latest news and updates on romance scams and also, to let you know how you can date safely on the internet. Scams affect many lives. They cause pain, hurt and damages, financially, emotionally and in other areas of our lives.

I invite you to read through as many posts on this site as you can, then share it with your friends and loved ones on twitter,facebook and so on using the share buttons after each article. You can also direct people who are being scammed to this site to read the stories of others, and avoid being hurt. If you have lost to the scams, you will find help in the stories of people like you who were also scammed. Let’s join hands together to help others and defeat this menace on the internet. You never know whose life you could save just by directing someone you know to read this site. Cheers.

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